Tuesday, February 15, 2011

I follow a huge number of blogs, over 500!!! Without being organized, I don’t think I could possibly keep up with everything, let alone manage to comment as often as I wish (I still don’t manage that anyway, but at least I can dream, right).

If you’re subscribed to more than, say, 10 or 15 blogs (which is most of us here), think seriously about signing up for Google Reader. If you have a Gmail account, you'll have access to Reader already, just click on the “Reader” link at the top left of the Gmail page. If you don’t have Gmail, you should be able to sign up for a Google Account and get Reader that way.

The default setting for Google Reader means that all blogs you “Follow” using Google Friend Connect, or subscribe to using RSS feed, will automatically appear in your Google Reader. You can skim blog posts in Reader, and decide which you want to open and comment on, which you will read without commenting, and which you want to skip reading this time around. Check out some of the shortcut keys I’ve listed below to make things even quicker.

You can also organize your subscriptions in Reader, so you can choose which particular type of blogs you look at on Tuesday evenings, say. I’ve found this SOOOO useful; I couldn’t keep up with all the blogs I follow otherwise. Here’s a (hopefully) simple “how to”:

Organizing Google Reader:

Sorting your subscriptions

I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but you can pull up a list of all the blogs you’ve subscribed to and organize them into folders. If you’re running short of time, or need to prioritize which posts you look at first, you can pull up just the blogs in a particular folder and read through those (and leave the other posts for another time/day).

To organize your subscriptions into folders

(1) Go to “Settings” at the top right of your Google Reader page

(2) Click on “Reader Settings”

(3) Click on “Subscriptions”. This will pull up a list of all the blogs you subscribe to

(4) Select the box beside the blog you want to “organize” (red circle). You can select multiple blogs at once. Then go over to the “Change Folders” drop-down menu (blue circle)

(5) In the drop-down menu, either click on the folder you want to put the selected blog in (if you’ve already created a folder) or else hit “New Folder” and name the folder when the pop-up box appears. I called my new folder “Crusaders”. You can then click on the “Crusaders” option in the drop-down menu, and the blog(s) you selected will be allocated to the “Crusaders” folder in Google Reader

(6) Once you’ve organized all the subscriptions, click on “Back to Google Reader”

Choosing only a certain category of blog to read

To search for the posts in a particular folder (after you’ve organized your folders as per the above):

(1) Click the drop-down menu labelled “All items” in the top left of Google Reader

(2) Select the folder you wish to search

(3) Press search

(4) Read away :)

Much easier, I think!

Using Google Reader:

Shortcuts

There are a lot of shortcut keys you can use to make life easier. Here are some of the ones I use the most:

s – Stars or un-stars an item (to save it for later)
j/k – Selects the next/previous item in the list
r – Refresh
Shift+A – Mark all as read
o – Open / Close item (in list view)
v - opens the original source for an article in a new window
f – toggles reading list to full screen mode and back
1 - displays the subscription as expanded items
2 - displays the subscription as a list of headlines
? - displays a quick guide to all of Reader's shortcuts

Searching within feeds

This is also very useful. You can use the search bar at the top of Google Reader to search through the feeds you've subscribed to. Matching items are displayed in either Expanded View or List View, depending on the way you usually use Reader (1 and 2 in the shortcut keys above). The search terms will be highlighted so you can scan them quickly.

(ETA) Subscribing to blogs with no RSS button

Jordan pointed this out in the comments below (thanks so much):

If you just want to subscribe rather than follow, blogs often have buttons to subscribe to their RSS feeds. You can click on that and choose the option to read it in Google Reader.

If a blog doesn't have an RSS button, copy its URL, go to Google Reader, click the Add Subscription button and paste the URL.

I hope these tips and tricks help you out.

How about you: do you use Google Reader or another program to organize your subscriptions? Do you know any other useful tips or tricks?

82 comments:

Google Reader is so useful! I follow over 600 blogs. And I just started using it THIS WEEK. I'm already finding it so much easier to navigate what I want to read. AND I find I want to read more because I automatically have the text in front of me. :O)

This is SO helpful, thanks! I'd been following in Google Reader but a)didn't know how to find the folders, and b)didn't know you could access it from Gmail, duh--I'd been accessing it through my Blogger dashboard.

Thanks for some great ideas! I use Google Reader, but I'm not quite as organised as you are with it. It's starting to swamp me, so I really need to organise, otherwise I'll end up being a full time blogger!

Have you had any issues with blogs you follow not showing up in your RSS reader? It's happened to me many, many times... there are still some blogs out there I've "followed" but I'll never find them again because they didn't show up in Google reader. I don't know if it's a settings issue or a bug in my reader...

Hey there- just wanted to let you know on the crusader list # 159 is not coming up. It could just be on my end too- as I have been having a very difficult time today with following other peoples blogs and commenting.

There are even easier ways to organize your subscriptions in Reader. On the main page of Google Reader, at the very bottom of the left-hand pane, there's a link that says Manage subscriptions. That takes you straight to the Subscriptions tab of the Settings.

Or, if you already have folders, you can drag and drop the subscriptions into folders right inside the left-hand pane of the main page.

I'm not sure that Following = Subscribing is the default. I've used Google Reader for almost 5 years, and I've never had a blog I Follow show up unless I subscribed, too. Maybe it has something to do with how long you've used Reader? Or a setting you get to select the first time you Follow a blog?

There's another reason why I always Subscribe instead of Follow: When you add a feed to your reader, you can instantly put it in a folder from the dropdown menu that says Feed Settings (above the news stories). (You can do this whenever you view stories from a specific feed, too.)

If you just want to subscribe, blogs often have buttons to subscribe to their RSS feeds. You can click on that and choose the option to read it in Google Reader. (If it doesn't have a button, copy its URL, go to Google Reader, click the Add Subscription button and paste the URL.)

Love this! I just started using Google Reader a few days ago--every since your crusade actually. One question. Can you make a comment on a blog while your still in reader, or do you have to open up that blog and got to the bottom of it and comment? TIA

Okay, you are my hero for sharing this information and taking all of those screen shots to help the technology-challenged like myself! I didn't even know sorting subscriptions was possible! And those shortcuts are great!

Personally, I love the Google Reader app for my Droid. The ability to take my blogs on the go is amazing!!!

Thanks so much for your comments guys, I'm so glad you've found this info useful :)

@Gary and @Lois, you do need to load the blog page to make a comment (unfortunately). Use the shortcut key "v", and it opens the blog post in a new window so you can comment and close the window without losing your spot in Reader.

@Jordan, great tips, thanks so much. That bit about subscribing to blogs which don't have an RSS subcribe button will be fantastically handy - will Tweet that this morning!

I tried Google Reader, but I didn't like it because I can't find away to click on the title/blog name and go straight to the blog itself like you can from the Dashboard--is there a link somewhere that I'm missing so I don't have to type in the URL?

Wow, that's really cool. I had no idea we could organize the blogs this way. Thank you. And thanks for all your hard work on the crusade. It's so much fun! I love the button on the side. Can we use it on our blogs? I'll try to put it on my sidebar with a link the your list. Thanks, Rachael

This is awesome and Rach you continue to amaze me. I went into Google Reader for the first time just now and I can't find a way to connect all the blogs I've followed through Google Friend Connect. Anyone have any ideas?

Good tips! I have not organized my Google Reader. In fact, most of my blogs don't come up on Google Reader. I saved it mostly for blogs that don't have a follower button to press right on their blogs. Now I follow so many blogs, I don't know if I can deal with trying to organize!

ok another question...i just followed all the people in my memoir group following instructions on this post...but will they know i am following as i am not showing up in their followers...is there another place to check followrs on google reader?x

Moncler Kids own the many capabilities in addition to great things about that technologies completely directly into bill if your regulations in the additional design, fabric design, colours in addition to sizing's and also the Rest of the world Design Moncler a lot more. These kinds of parties Moncler all right. Gevils. com offers snowboard leather coats with regard to men and women and as well lovely for any youngsters. Good, Moncler snowboard leather coats with regard to men in a different way compared to men leather coats than a priceless component in the design. They don't get away from clothes in the actions regarding style in addition to clothes Moncler Vests Women should be to get different types regarding clothes generally offer to all or any for any good value to create regardless men as well as women of all ages.

I've been following those blogs in my Campaign group that have email feeds, but I find a lot don't. I don't have Google reader and can't figure out atom feeds, but maybe I ought to get it. Will it follow any blog?

Sue, Atom feeds is just another form of feed, and by subscribing to it (clicking the link at the bottom of posts), the blog's feed will also show up in your Google Reader. If you were on Blogger, you would be able to follow blogs on your Dashboard (Wordpress may have a similar tool, I'm not sure), but this is unwieldy as the number of blogs you follow increases. I'd strongly recommend getting Google Reader - it's free and VERY easy, you just need to sign up to Google. Hope that helps,

I really enjoyed reading your article. I found this as an informative and interesting post, so i think it is very useful and knowledgeable. I would like to thank you for the effort you have made in writing this article.

There are certain point in our life that we encounter failure but it doesn't mean you will lose hope and give up everything but it only means that every failure there's an exchange and that is new beginning. Well, thank you for sharing your article and keep on posting. Visit my site too for more information.

Rachael Harrie

I write YA Horror, Dark Fantasy, and Psychological Thrillers, and spend my day imagining evil plot twists and psychotic characters. When I'm not thinking up ways to make you squirm, you'll find me blogging up a storm (with the occasional Twitter and Facebook foray as well), planning for my next Campaign, wondering whether to make Write Hope a permanent fundraiser for charity, counting down the days to the next WriteOnCon, and diving into another round of critiques with my CPs.

I blog on every second Monday. And other times as the whim takes me :)

My WIP - DARK

Sixteen-year-old Sydney Price is blinded by the radical group Dark, who demand that she betray her scientist brother if she wants to save his life.

Top Writing Blog Award Finalist

Writers' Platform-Building Campaign

Member of SCBWI

Commentors Cloud

THIS BLOG claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respectful owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.